Day at Sea: April, 2008

My long time friend Kevin told me a couple of years ago that he had gone on a cruise once and hated it. He said there was nothing to do onboard, so facing a day at sea was torture for him. For me, however, the problem I have during a sea day is too little time to do everything I want to do, and such was the case on our first full day at sea aboard Dawn Princess.

Julie and I walked some laps around the Promenade Deck, enjoying the ocean view, before eating breakfast in the formal dining room. On Princess's menu, there are two unique breakfast specials each day in addition to their standard choices like omelettes, pancakes and cereal. I had Eggs Florentine, a dish featuring asparaghus and Swiss cheese, plus a bran muffin and coffee. The dining room always has better coffee than the buffet, and sitting down with fellow passengers in the dining room allows us to interact with new friends and fully savor the meal. It's a more civilized experience.

After breakfast, Julie headed up to the pool to read, which is one of her favorite parts of a vacation, while I started choosing among the items on the daily list of activities. First stop was the cooking demonstration in the atrium, followed by a couple of games of bridge in the game room before meeting Amy and her friend Danielle for a Trivia game. I missed a meringue dance lessson in order to attend Trivia, but I love spending time with the kids, even if we did rather poorly in the game. They went their way for a while, and I went up to lay in a lounge chair next to Julie where I half watched a bartender drink mixing demonstration by the pool. Soon, I was off to meet the girls for sushi at the buffet. They had some great selections, including my favorite, California Roll, and the hottest wasabi I ever tasted.

A little reading in the lounge chair and a few dips in the pool, and I was fully in relaxed vacation mode by 3 in the afternoon when Julie and I headed to the dining room for Wine Tasting. If you've taken enough cruises, this is a free event, but it's definitely worth paying to attend. The sommeliers share lots of interesting information about wine, and they always choose a delicious and diverse series for tasting.

Amy and Danielle had said they would be going to Tea Time at 3:30, and we tried to join them, but by the time the Wine Tasting ended it was 4, and they were just finishing up. Julie and I nonetheless sat down for tea and excellent scones.

The second night out is the first formal night, so we headed back to the room to change for dinner. Soon I was in my tuxedo and sipping a Gin Gimlet at the Captain's Cocktail Party in the atrium. At the Captain's Cocktail Party, waiters offer guests complimentary hors d'oeuvres and drinks from trays, so you can be glamorous and cheap at the same time. I love it.

We met the girls outside the Florentine Dining Room and were immediately seated. At the risk of boring you with details, I had crab quiche as an appetizer, followed by lobster bisque, a tossed salad with honey mustard dressing, mahi mahi served with potatoes and cucumber salad, and then Willaim Pear Tart for dessert.

After dinner, we headed over to watch "Piano Man," the big production show of the evening. We had seen a somewhat different show by the same name on Grand Princess a year earlier. The Billy Joel and Elton John songs were undoubtedly the musical highlights, but my favorite part was the enthusiastic dancing of the young ladies in the chorus line. After the show, we headed over to the Karaoke lounge, where they began choosing passengers to participate in Princess Pop Star, an oboard version of "American Idol." Many of those people we saw that first night were in the final show. Once again, we all chickened out. Maybe next time we'll get up there and sing.

It was a day that made me wonder why Kevin doesn't find anything to do on cruises. Maybe it's because when we were in high school, all Kevin needed to do was take off his sunglasses to have girls all over him. I guess by comparison, it takes a lot more effort to have fun on a cruise.